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This case examines the corporate restructuring process of SMU Group, a Chilean retail supermarket chain. The restructuring process was triggered by an internal situation involving operational inefficiencies between the years 2007 and 2012, following an aggressive acquisition process. These problems were the result of an aggressive "Buy-and- Build" strategy, thanks to which by the end of 2012 the Group had grown to become the third largest player in the supermarket industry in Chile. Although this strategy allowed the conglomerate to consolidate its competitive position, it was based on inorganic growth that hid the differences in the operational performance of the different chains and did not allow the Group to take advantage of its own synergies in the process of consolidating the holding company. Around mid-2013, this lack of definition in SMU's competitive strategy resulted in a serious deterioration of its financial position, due to the significant indebtedness taken on to finance acquisitions, as well as the insufficient generation of cash flow. Furthermore, when compared to the two main players in the industry, SMU showed lower levels of profitability and sales per square meter. To overcome this crisis, SMU implemented a three-year strategic plan (2014-2016), reinforcing three fundamental areas: finance, operations and commercial. The goal was to restore financial viability to the conglomerate by the end of 2016. After executing its plan, SMU achieved an improvement at the operational and commercial levels. However, in the first months of 2017, the risk rating agencies still had doubts about SMU's future performance and its crisis management capacity. For this reason, Álvaro Saieh, who was serving at the time as Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors, had several questions: could SMU's 3-year operational and strategic restructuring plan be considered successful? what are the critical variables that will ensure the sustainability of the company and its growth in the coming years? will I be questioned again like I was in 2013? and finally, what possibilities do I have to create corporate value in the future? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case introduces the reader to a problem of a family business in the milk industry, Fundo Los Ulmos (FLU), which had to choose the best option between the two main alternatives available. One of the options was to sell all the land of the family business that has an emotional root with the decision maker. Instead, the second option was to perform an operational analysis that will improve dairy management based on a milk production optimization model. This case shows a typical family business problem where the decision maker must deal with decisions that mix analytical and socioemotional aspects. This case is especially relevant for a competitive strategy course in Latin American family businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the 1940s the School of Arabic Studies of Granada (Spain) became a center for the initial training of translators and interpreters of Arabic and Berber to be employed by the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco. Research conducted in the School's archives has shed new light on this unique collaborative project between the academic field of Arabism and the Spanish colonial body, an initiative actively promoted by its director at the time, Luis Seco de Lucena. The project was intended to provide candidates for admission to the Arabic and Berber Interpretation Corps of the Protectorate and at the same time help ensure the survival of the University's Arab Studies department, which was also in need of new personnel. The results, however, were both poor and ephemeral. Only two promotions graduated from the School in Granada and headed to Tetouan, capital of the Protectorate, to continue their studies and only four candidates ended up joining the aforementioned Corps. Moreover, only one of them, José Aguilera, engaged in noteworthy activity in both the world of professional translation/interpreting and the University. This fruitless experience can be viewed as yet another indication of the human and material deficiencies faced by that period's Arabism in its ability to train professionals of Arabic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most demanding needs of the primary sector is the development of methods, tools, models and techniques for the accurate and efficient management of perishables along the Supply Chain (SC), particularly focused on advanced logistics services (Third-Party Logistics 3PL) such as freight consolidation. This coordination strategy looks for the alignment of agents and processes around the efficient freight handling by minimizing costs and allowing the proper use of transportation capacity resources. The contribution of this paper relies on the analysis of benefits regarding freight consolidation strategies in the context of Agricultural Supply Chains (ASC) by using a simulation approach. The results of a discrete-event simulation with one commodity product evaluated in three different scenarios prove the benefits of this coordination strategy by reducing the number of annual shipments from 1732 to 725 in a city logistics context and increasing fleet utilization levels up to 71%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the general modelling process for the logistics of medicines distribution within the public health program in Colombia. The model is grounded in verifying the conditions on the current information for the logistics distribution system of the medicines in the six (6) public health programs in Colombia. Verification on the structure and robustness of the created model is developed through an emulation system based on the matrix of real information, and later verified by using a discrete simulation program developed in visual.Net with input and output to Excel. The proposal is tested and validated through GAMS® – General Algebraic Modelling System, with the formulation of three operational scenarios that achieve savings up to 57,44% of the total cost of the public health medicines logistics system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1958, Western Sahara became a Spanish province. Since Spanish was the only official language, translating into Arabic the legislation for the territory was quite unusual. There were, however, some exceptions, like the Statute of Autonomy (1974). This paper provides, first, a brief introduction to translation activities in the former Spanish colony and some information on the process of translating this important historical document; secondly, the Arabic version of the Statute of Autonomy is published for the first time and briefly commented upon. The Arabic text is accompanied by the Spanish sourcetext, which in turn is compared with the final official version of the Statute of Autonomy as sanctioned by General Franco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests whether financial leverage fluctuates in a way which is consistent with the existence of a target leverage or, on the contrary, it freely fluctuates with the observed changes on stock returns. Using a sample of non-financial publicly-traded firms of 5 Latin-American countries and the US in the period 2000-2007, we find that firms allow their leverages fluctuate almost one to one with stock returns variations. This evidence does not mean at all that firms are not involve in corporate debt issuing activity but they do not care too much about hit a particular target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review of the Asin's catalogue (1910) of the Arabic Manuscripts in Sacromonte Library (Granada, Spain) with special attention to formal aspects (paper, binding, ink) including cataloguing and description of a new manuscript (number 22). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ciencia en Desarrollo is the property of Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, Centro de Investigaciones y Extension and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ciencia en Desarrollo is the property of Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, Centro de Investigaciones y Extension and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

El Herbario de la Universidad El Bosque HUEB, a lo largo de la últimos 3 años ha empezado a sufrir una remodelación y reestructuración dentro de lo cual se han iniciado colecciones de grupos botánicos con los que no se contaba o que tenían un número escaso de muestras, dentro de las cuales se encuentran las de algas, hongos y briófitos, además se empezó reorganizar y enriquecer la colección de traqueófitos. Los ejemplares que se encontraban, inicialmente, se habían recolectado recolectado en Bahía Málaga, Isla Gorgona, Melgar y Tayrona, las nuevas muestras que se ingresaron incluyen sitos como, Tausa, Fómeque, Tenjo, Cocuy, Tauramena y Cerros orientales de Bogotá, provenientes de salidas de campo de docencia y por donaciones que se le han realizado al HUEB. La idea es contar con una colección representativa de las diferentes regiones del país con el fin de fortalecer la enseñanza de este grupo y su diversidad en Colombia. Hasta el momento se han revisado 112 muestras, dando como resultado un total de 11 familias, 23 géneros y 38 especies, en donde la familia más abundante fue e Dryopteridaceae con 11 especies y las menos abundantes fueron Gleicheniaceae, Plagiogyriaceae, Vittariaceae, Blechnaceae, Thelypteridaceae y Lindsaeaceae, todas con una especie. En cuanto a géneros el más abundantes fue Elaphoglossum con 4 especies, seguido por Trichomanes, Adiantum y Pecluma con 2 especies. Por otra parte, se elaboró una clave taxonómica con el programa DELTA Editor [1], a partir de caracteres morfológicos presentes en las muestras de pteridófitos que hacían parte de esta colección; la clave tiene descripciones del rizoma, pecíolo, frondas, pinnas y soros, algunas de las características de estas fueron la presencia de escamas, pelos o si eran glabrescentes, además de la venación, forma de cada una de ellas, tipo de lámina, coloración de las escamas, forma del pecíolo, forma de los soros, posición de los soros, entre otras; adicionalmente se le añadieron fotografías de cada características que se presentaban en la clave, dando como resultado una clave taxonómica que facilita su identificación y cuyo fin es seguirla enriqueciendo en la medida en que ingresen nuevas muestras a la colección. Finalmente, para hacerla más comprensible, se adicionó un glosario de los términos relacionados con la identificación de los pteridófitos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]